30 December 2013

I conclude the year 2013 with reading 38 books –down three
from last year. That also lessened my page count, as I read 2,900 less pages
then in 2012. Of course last year I read multiple books that were close or well
over a 1,000 pages –and had I read A Feast
of Crows and A Dance of Dragons
by George R.R. Martin, I might’ve reached my previous page count, but probably
not as many books. The longest book I read this year was 820 pages.

I’m unsure if I’ll even get to those Martin books in 2014.
Like always, I never set a plan –just go where my fancies take me.Still, I have a few John Irving books to read
and there will be another Stephen King book (but it was a remarkable year in
that department, as I read two King books plus his two sons, Owen King and Joe
Hill) sometime in 2014. I’ve got plenty to read, and will add more as the year
unwinds.

And funny, as much as I try to avoid series books, I seem to
end up getting caught up in them. As age and internet seem to sap my will to
read, I ruminate that there are many stand-alone books I should be reading and
not spending time reading multi volumes of never ending series (I mean, unless
you are a fast reader, the 14 volume Wheel of Time series can take up a whole
year or more to complete. Who’s got the time for that?). Plus I think I have
less time in front of me than behind and I feel the need and desire to read as
much as possible and waiting on series books seems pointless to me.

But like I said: I never have a set plan. Happy reading!!
Happy New Year!!!

Books read in 2013:

01.Bossypants by Tina Fey (275 pages)

02.Earthbound by Joe Haldeman (258 pages)

03.West of Here by Jonathan Evison (484 pages)

04.Elliot Allagnash by Simon Rich (224 pages)

05.Until I Find You by John Irving (820 pages)

06.Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold (480
pages)

07.The Rook by Daniel O’Malley (482 pages)

08.Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John La Carré (381
pages)

09.In One Person by John Irving (425 pages)

10.Redshirts by John Scalzi (314 pages)

11.The Company of the Dead by David J Kowalski (750
pages)

12.Double Feature by Owen King (412 pages)

13.Putting on the Ritz by Joe Keenan (325 pages)

14.What in God’s Name by Simon Rich (223 pages)

15.Hope: A Tragedy by Shalom Auslander (292 pages)

16.N0S4A2 by Joe Hill (686 pages)

17.Inferno by Dan Brown (463 pages)

18.Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese (658 pages)

19.Murder As A Fine Art by David Morrell (347
pages)

20.Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by
Ransom Riggs (352 pages)

29 December 2013

In John Connolly’s third book with Samuel Johnson and his
dog Boswell, the author continues his quirky, often hilarious look at Hell,
demons who aren’t as evil as word “demon” defines them, and the Multiverse.

Much like The Gates and The Infernals, in The Creeps Samuel must deal with
the Great Malevolence and Mrs. Abernathy, who despite having her atoms
scattered throughout the Multiverse for her failure to allow Hell on Earth and
then take revenge on Samuel, is using what part of her that still remains –her deep
hatred for the boy- to destroy Biddlecombe and eventually the entire
Multiverse. But Samuel, as always, has help in Nurd and Wormwood along with
assorted dwarfs, policemen and even the scientist of CERN. And then there is
the upbeat and generally happy gelatinous cube sliming around.

Once again, Connolly has created a weird world, where the
battle against the forces of evil come off as a delicious romp that seems to
combine all the best elements of Douglas Adams, Monty Python, Christopher Moore
and Terry Pratchett into an entertaining series. Connolly also continues to use
the footnotes, which are just as informative as they are funny. I admit they
threw me at first in The Gates, but I’ve found them important to the story.

But alas, it seems Connolly brings his trilogy to a close
with The Creeps, but he did leave a little wiggle room for more books dealing
with Samuel Johnson and his faithful dachshund Boswell. I’ll be there if he
does.

26 December 2013

"Samuel Johnson is in trouble. Not only is he in love with
the wrong girl, but the demon Mrs. Abernathy is seeking revenge on him for his
part in foiling the invasion of Earth by the forces of evil. She wants to get
her claws on Samuel, and when Samuel and his faithful dachshund, Boswell, are
pulled through a portal into the dark realm, she gets her chance."

Why this book is called The Infernals is beyond me. While
there are such creatures in this second Samuel Johnson book, they really don’t
play too much into the plot –Mrs. Abernathy is using their help to bring her
back into the good graces of the Great Malevolence. The original UK title was
Hell’s Bells, and I’m curious as to why the US publisher changed the title. Of
course, it probably has to deal with the word Hell in the title of a YA novel.
The Puritan Americans or those One Million Mom nutcases would probably go off
on some tangent if a book geared to “impressionable” young people had a title
such as Hell’s Bells.

Then again, I think folks outside the United States think
Americans are simple minded folks who never grasped the concept of satire. And
they’re probably right.

Anyways, Samuel and his dachshund Boswell are pulled into
Hell by Mrs. Abernathy, who also manages to open a portal from her (it?)
Multiverse to ours. The only thing is, she also snags two police officers, an
ice cream man and his truck and four antisocial dwarves –Connolly’s Magnificent
Seven? This time, the book takes on a quest like saga, with Samuel traveling
through Hell in search of way back to his own dimension, meeting along the way
all sorts of demons, damned souls and what not. Meanwhile, Nurd, Wormwood and
the Aston-Martin used to close the doorway between worlds are back, and we
learn there is an emotional connection between the demon and Samuel and Nurd
sets out save Samuel from Mrs. Abernathy.

Once again Connolly sums up his dry wit and ability to
handle multiple plots (which, for a book marketed towards younger adults, might
be a bit troublesome) along with talking about time travel and other aspects of
the Multiverse –and yes, the footnotes come back as well.

While the Samuel Johnson books are an easy read, that should
not be taken as a fault. They’re entertaining and that is what is more
important. Adults and kids will simply find the tale of good versus evil given
a nice twist. Now The Creeps beckon.

Follow Me

Shame Counter

Judas Kiss

The Heart-Shaped Box

Early 50s, works retail, help make the indie film JUDAS KISS,THE DARK PLACE, and the upcoming SOMETHING LIKE SUMMER, worked on the web based Hidden Frontier Productions. Makes occasional comments on pop culture that include TV, Books, Movies.